1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to certifying electronic documents and more particularly to time-stamping and verifying time-stamps for documents transmitted using network resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various ways for certifying documents have been used throughout the ages. For example, a Notary public is a person empowered to witness and certify documents and to take oaths and affidavits. Typically, notarization relies upon the presence of parties and sometimes documents (in paper form) during certification, and the notary relies upon personal observation. Another type of certification is mail delivery certification. Typically, the recipient of a piece of mail signs and dates a document indicating that they have received it (or at least that they have received something from someone on a particular day).
Traditional document certification remains inadequate. For one, there remains a need for document certification without the need of a notary. One reason for this is that notarization can be very inconvenient--a notary public is not always on hand, and may not be available at all when needed. This is one reason that many important and time sensitive documents do not get notarized. For example, parties with documents pertaining to the conception of a patentable invention, a story line for a movie that was discussed with film companies, or an employment harassment complaint, could all benefit from a simple way of certifying and authenticating their documents, and, more particularly, a way of certifying that a particular document was in their possession or was transmitted by them at a given date and time.
In addition to the availability and convenience problem, the traditional methods of document certification can often provide inadequate results. One instance of this is the difficulty in determining whether an item that was ostensibly "certified" is the item that a party later asserts it to be. For example, a party may send a message using certified postal mail, and may receive a signed card indicating that the recipient had received something. However, the postal certification card may only prove that the recipient got something, and does not prove message content. Additionally, a page of a document may be notarized (such as a signature page), but an opposing party may later allege that other pages in the document were not present at the time of notarization, or that other pages in the document had been changed.
Thus, there remains a need for better and more convenient document certification, for certification and corresponding verification with time-stamp information, and for transmitting messages with convenient, content proving certification.